(a) Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an exercise device and more particularly, but not by way of limitation, to a hand held relaxation and/or exercise device adapted for attachment to a back of a hand and secured to the fingers of the hand and the wrist.
(b) Discussion of Prior Art
Heretofore what makes occasional exercise difficult, for those who might have the time and the desire, is overcoming the everyday stiffness that restricts movement. Pushing through this lack of flexibility is painful at times. This can be discouraging and difficult to change. Lack of flexibility is rooted in lifelong habits of strain due to one's lifestyle wherein the muscles are actually stuck together in these patterns. Also, chronic stiffness may revolve around old injuries or a series of minor trauma that was never totally rehabilitated.
Few exercise methods today do anything to restore flexibility or energy. In fact, most popular practices are more involved in the pursuit of spending energy. Another common attitude mistakenly equates physical fitness with muscular development. More people pumping up at the gym are waking up with the same aches and pains realizing that more strength is not more energy. Conventional free weight exercise, designed to strengthen the upper body, typically involves raising or pushing a weight against the force of gravity. This most often requires the use of gripping muscles in the hands and arms which limit movement to isolated and rigid patterns. Also, conventional exercise machines follow specific patterns of directional resistance which are limited in range and often operate only in two dimensions. These types of movement are associated with archaic ideals of physical labor such as lifting, pushing, curling, pressing, etc. This approach to fitness and strength reinforces disproportionate strength and arbitrary alignment of the body's physical structure.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,006,895 to DiLaurenzio, U.S. Pat. No. 5,358,463 to Fuentes and U.S. Pat. No. 4,982,950 to Petrosky three different types of hand held exercising device are described wherein wrist action is required by a user to move rotating members mounted thereon. Also, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,672,093 to Meek, Sr., U.S. Pat. No. 3,306,612 to Rosen and U.S. Pat. No. 3,533,185 three hand held toys are disclosed wherein wrist action is required for rotating weighted pendulums and rings.
None of the above mentioned prior art exercising devices and related toys disclose or teach the specific structure of the subject hand held relaxation/exercise device as described herein.